


burdened by your royal test

by noneislefttoprotest



Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackmail, Coming Out, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, Gen, Homophobia, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Sibling Bonding, frozen the musical references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29420457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noneislefttoprotest/pseuds/noneislefttoprotest
Summary: Dig Iwatani comes out.
Relationships: Arachne Myriad/Yanna Aliki, Dig Iwatani/Hypnos Blair
Series: 岩谷 - iwatani [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161056
Kudos: 1





	burdened by your royal test

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the rwby song "this life is mine", or: dig's personal anthem

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

_ part I - in _

"Dig, is the Blair boy dating someone?"

Dig almost spit out his drink. 

"Wh-What?"

"I noticed he started wearing a ring around the time of your trip. Do you know anything about that?

"Uh, no, not really. It must be a fashion statement." Dig hoped he wasn't flushing.

"Huh. I kind of expected him to be. You know what his reputation is. You boys really ought to find yourselves girlfriends." Hiroto puffed out smoke from his Cuban cigar. "You're getting a little old to be an eternal bachelor without…  _ unfortunate _ implications. Especially with his history."

"Well, I'm really focusing on school and the business right now. I'll leave that 'looking for a wife' stuff for later."

"That's what you've always said." his father snapped back. "Shame that arrangement with the Myriad girl didn't work out. She could've at least pretended she wasn't a  _ lesbian _ for the sake of your public image." he scoffed.

Dig didn't care about the poison in his voice when he said "lesbian". He didn't care for a lot of stuff in that statement, actually. But he just sipped his lemon flavored seltzer - god, he was  _ so _ gay - and didn't say anything, as usual.

Sunroom moments with the family were never as enjoyable as Hiroto pretended they were. Ebb was playing the piano - something by Chopin, though Dig guessed he wouldn't approve of her violence against the keys when their father unknowingly insulted her paramour. Tomiko spritzed the plants with one hand and sipped a glass of rosé with the other, and Fathom wasn't even pretending he was paying attention to anything but his Switch.

Dig's mind wandered, as it often did, into a funny universe: what if he came out  _ now _ ? Well, everyone would kill him on the spot, his parents for  _ being  _ gay and his siblings for picking the  _ most _ irresponsible time to come out.

He came back to this universe, much less entertaining. His father was talking about golf, now.

Dig turned off his brain, only interjecting with "mm-hmm"s and "yeah"s occasionally. 

He wondered what his boyfriend was doing. The place  _ he _ wore the ring - in a chain around his neck, under at least a layer and close to his heart - felt like it burned after that particular conversation. It reassured him, though.

Hyp was probably having a better time. Surrounded by his plants and his animals, no unpleasant family members in sight, hell, it was a hot day, he might be shirtless… Dig caught his thoughts before they went anywhere inappropriate.

(After their first time, Dig could not think of anything else. Curse his boyfriend and his hot body and his promise to dom the next time.)

His father was now talking about politics, and he wished he'd accepted his mother's offer to share the wine.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

"I swear," he laughed. "I think he was more upset about you being gay than dumping me."

"That's his problem, not mine." Arachne shrugged, with an amused grin on her face. "I came out then for a  _ reason _ ."

"I know, I know. And the Iwatanis, bar the youngest generation, hate you for it."

Being back at school was good for multiple reasons: he got to see his friends outside of a controlled environment, he saw his boyfriend every day, and he had more things to do than worry about his father.

All in all, he would miss this when he graduated.

"Well, good thing they don't know how you helped me put their business associate in jail, then."

"Oh, my father has some  _ opinions  _ about the trial. I hope he learned something."

"Do you want to make him Lester's cellmate?" Arachne asked. He knew she was half-joking, but she could honestly be dead serious as well.

"No, no, he's never done anything to warrant that. But I do want it to stick with him."

"If you need it, just say the word."

Dig laughed.

"You know? One day I might just need your specific skillset to deal with him. I don't have anything planned, but just as a forewarning."

"I shall wait, then." She grinned what Dig could only call a genuine Arachne Smirk, terrifying in its power, disarming in its simplicity.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

It was one of their late night calls, in one of the weekends where Dig wasn't kidnapped by his prince, but a Rapunzel in his tower.

"Hyp?"

"Yes, my love?"

Dig always melted when he called him that.  _ So sweet _ .

"How did you come out?"

He heard a chuckle from the other side.

"Dig, it's a hell of a story."

"Tell me. I have the time."

"Well, my grandma found out by herself. Not that hard to slip past unnoticed when I kept getting into 'trouble' at school." He could hear the quotation marks in his voice. "That trouble being wearing a skirt sometimes, or piercings, or colored hair…"

"The crime of self expression."

"Yup. She was fine with it, as you may guess."

Dig did guess, back in their trip to Japan. The only person he  _ ever  _ brought home to meet her… and she was more than supportive.

"Yeah, I figured."

"Then, I had to tell my parents. I just kinda… casually mentioned it to my mom? She wasn't super antagonistic about the gays when I talked about that to her, so I just kinda told her I was seeing a boy and then she had to go on a plane, so."

Dig giggled. "Good tactic."

"Right? And then there was my dad. I just lost my temper one day, when he was going on and on against 'the queers', and told him… I think what I said was 'well, what a shame your son is gay'. And then I started blackmailing him with the affair stuff. You know the rest. So yeah."

"Quite a journey."

"Yeah. Are you thinking of coming out?"

He shrugged. "Eeh, sort of? I don't know. I've been thinking about it a lot, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea. I am sure my father would disinherit me on the spot. I don't know what my mother would do. Cry, maybe."

"If you think it's not safe, then you shouldn't." Hyp advised. "That's all I can say."

"Yeah. I probably won't-" he was interrupted by a yawn. "-anyway… I should go to sleep."

"Yeah, you should." He could hear the smile in Hyp's voice. "Good night, my love."

"Good night… when am I going to go over to your place again?"

"Next weekend at the latest. Maybe earlier, now that your dad relaxed on the restrictions. Do you miss me already?" he teased.

"Wearing your shirt just isn't the same…" Dig smirked. "And… well, you know.  _ That _ ."

"Oh. You're thirsty, is that it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then we can try to get you over here earlier, if you're a  _ good boy _ ." his boyfriend drawled.

Hyp  _ knew _ what that did to him. God damn it.

"I'll be a good boy, I promise." he put on his best subby voice.

"Let's see if you are. Or else… there will be punishment. You know that, right?"

From worrying about his father right into subspace. A delicious distraction. 

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"I guess you'll have to find out. Good night, my dear."

"Good night." he whispered, hearing the line go silent. He blocked his phone and plugged it in the charger.

Dig pulled up the collar of the t-shirt Hypnos had left for him to sleep in. His smell was fading from it already. Dig guessed he would have to rotate the shirts so he always had one that smelled like his boyfriend. Like cologne, sweat and dogs.

For now, he smelled this one and tried to sleep soon, so the day he got to see Hyp in the flesh got here quicker.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

All it took was one question.

"Dig, are you wearing a ring?"

And he froze.

_ He forgot. _

He was right in front of his father; he couldn't try to sneakily get it off. Hypnos was looking at him over Hiroto's shoulder, eyes the size of tire caps.

"Well, why do you ask if you can see it?"

Hiroto huffed in amusement. " _ Why _ are you wearing a ring, then?"

Dig felt his face warming up, nervously looking between his boyfriend and his father. He couldn't make up a lie. He couldn't breathe. He was found out.

"Why do you keep looking at-" Hiroto turned around at Hyp, and the realization hit him hard. Dig thought he saw him physically recoil. He braced for the screaming.

"Have you two been  _ together _ this whole time!?"

Notably, he was screaming at Dig, not Hypnos. Always  _ his _ fault, though this time he was glad about it.

Dig mustered all the courage he had in his life, voice trembling, to respond:

"Yes. And you can't do anything about it."

Hiroto went livid. His face was also reddening, but in anger rather than in shame.

"Dig Augustus Iwatani, are you telling me, right now, that you are a, a, a  _ queer _ ? A  _ homosexual _ !?"

Dig felt like crying. He tilted his chin up, and took a shaky breath.  _ Don't cry. You can do that later. _

"Father, I always have been. And I am  _ done _ with pretending otherwise for  _ your _ sake."

Fuck, if he was going to do this now, then he might as well go all in.

His father didn't expect him to take such a firm stance, but Hiroto Iwatani was nothing if not a stubborn man.

"Why? You have pretended to not be a… moral  _ aberration _ for your entire life. Why don't you keep doing that, then?"

"Because I _ love  _ him!"

And there it was, out in the open. The phrase he could never say out loud, not even in private.

"And I never pretended for the sake of morality. I pretended because  _ you _ wanted me to. Father, you have  _ no  _ idea who I am, who…  _ any  _ of us are. Because you've, you've been forcing your shitty, limited mentality on us. And you never let us be who we are!"

He took another shaky breath.

Hiroto composed himself, cleaning his throat and adjusting his tie.

"Well, then. I hope you understand that  _ no  _ son of mine is going to be a homosexual. And no heir to the company will be, either."

For just a second, the floor fell out from under him. He went into complete sensory deprivation - eyes unfocused, hearing nothing. Then he came back to himself, and grabbed his father's sleeve as he tried to leave.

Hiroto turned aggressively, raising his other palm. Hypnos was at his side in the blink of an eye, holding back his arm.

"Hyp, don't- he's not going to hit me."

"Let go of me, you  _ disgraceful _ -!"

"Are you sure?" Hypnos asked, after Hiroto pulled himself away from him.

Dig nodded. He looked back at his father.

"Well, go on, father, I'm sure that the media would have a party with you disowning me for being gay."

He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

It was a shot in the dark, but it seemed to work. Besides, Dig was good at bluffing.

"If you do disown me, I'll phone the BBC and they'll know immediately." he raised his chin. "I'm sure your associates would be fine with it, but the media… not so much."

"Are you trying to blackmail me, boy?"

"I don't have to. I'll win anyway. " A lie. Bluffing for his life. "If you do disown me, I'll go live with my boyfriend and I don't have to look you in the face again, but you'll be under public scrutiny. Again." he tilted his head, barely holding back a smirk as he got himself going. "And I can fuel them with plenty of material. Now if you don't… nothing to condemn. It's your choice, father, to decide if you’d want to share the headlines with Lester Cabot. Would you?"

Hiroto paused. He looked like a man trapped in a labyrinth, making countless calculations to find his way out.

"Besides, you've trained me my whole  _ life  _ for this." Dig casually put his hands in his pockets. "It's not like I couldn't take the secrets of the business somewhere else. A man with my experience and connections is easily hireable. Your rivals would have a field day."

The tension in the air was palpable.  _ Delicious _ . His bluff had paid off better than he could have imagined.

"You wouldn't dare." was what Hiroto came up with. "After all of the spending and  _ sacrifice _ that was done for you, you wouldn't disrespect-"

Dig scoffed, interrupting him. "Sacrifice? Disrespect? Father, what part of 'following your every order' seems like disrespect to you? What part of 'sacrificing my own personal identity for the family name' is a sacrifice  _ you  _ made?"

"Watch your mouth-"

"Or what? Accept it, father. You're in the wrong, here. If having a gay son inspires enough hatred in you to drive you to your downfall, then I guess you've already lost."

Every eye on the house was on them. Literally: his siblings and the maids were watching from the mezzanine, the cooks and common area servants were peeking in from the kitchen, and his mother was in the hallway, gripping the doorframe. They must have heard the screaming.

Hiroto realized this, too. Being humiliated by his own son in front of his entire family was not  _ anything  _ he ever expected to experience. If only he knew how this was his own fault… well, maybe then he wouldn't still be grasping at straws to look for a way to punish him.

In the end, not even Tomiko, who dictated every social behavior for the family, cared  _ that much _ about Dig's personal life.

"Fine." he grumbled. "I'll play by your rules. But don't expect me to be nice to you about this."

"You've never been. Hyp, come on." he grabbed his boyfriend's hand and went upstairs, to his room.

"What are you looking at!? Back to work!" Hiroto barked at the servants, and they scattered.

Dig was received by a quiet fist-bump from each of his siblings when he reached the top of the stairs. Teary-eyed, but with a proud smile on his face.

They got to his bedroom, and he closed the door and leaned his back against it, in shock.

"Holy shit I can't believe I just did that." he exhaled.

"I… kinda can't believe it either." Hypnos had a surprised expression on his face. Surprised, but not negative. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, I might cry. After the shock has passed me over."

"Come here. You don't need to hold back the door."

Dig unpeeled himself from it, still trying to control his breathing, and threw himself right into Hypnos' arms. The feeling of being hugged was the thing that gave way to his tears.

_ I just came out. _

_ To everyone. _

He started sobbing against Hyp's shirt. Not out of sadness. Out of  _ relief _ .

  
  


Later, they were cuddling on his bed, with the starry night lantern turned on, just looking at the projections in the ceiling and the walls.

"...you said it." Hyp muttered.

"Hmm?"

"That you love me. You said it, to your dad."

Dig's eyebrows shot up. "I did. I didn't even realize it in… the heat of the moment."

"Oh." He seemed a bit let down.

Dig turned around, looking straight into his eyes. "Hypnos Blair." he kissed him. "Don't be mistaken. I  _ am _ absolutely, completely, and permanently in love with you." he punctuated every statement with a kiss. "I love you."

Hypnos held him the entire night. And it wasn't a secret to  _ anyone _ , anymore.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

_ part II - out _

After Hyp left, there was a shy knock on his door.

"Come in." he called, not really minding it.

It was his mother.

"...Do you have a moment?" she asked, more withheld than he'd ever seen her.

"Uh, sure. Over here." he directed her to the armchairs in front of his bed.

Tomiko looked like what he remembered of his mother, before… everything. Her eyes weren't darting unfocused all over the place, for one, but her body language was proper, polite. 

He didn't know when it started -  _ it  _ as in the distancing, the rules, the verbal abuse -, but she started drinking soon after whenever it was. Sometimes, Dig wondered if Ebb had any memories of her sobriety.

When she spoke, he was sure she hadn't started drinking yet. He couldn't smell it on her breath.

"I wanted to talk to you about what you said the other day. About… you and Hypnos."

He tensed. She reached over and grabbed his hand.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to react like your father." she rubbed at the ring on his finger. "I don't understand it, and I'm not going to try to. I can't. But you are my son. And nothing can change that."

Dig felt the tears prickling at his eyes. As a response, he nodded, afraid that the dam would break if he tried words.

"You know I didn't have much of a choice in my life. Neither did your father. But we could find happiness. And a family. It… displeases me that your father could be so nasty to you. But it doesn't surprise me. I'm… I'm proud to see you finding your own path to happiness. Even if it is different from ours." she cleaned her throat, and held tighter to his hand.

They stayed in silence for a moment.

"That's all I wanted to say." she whispered, getting up and leaving without saying another word.

"Thanks, mom…" Dig said to the empty room.

That was the first time she'd ever said she was proud of him.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

"So, I need your help."

Arachne blinked at him, waiting for him to explain himself.

"I came out to my parents."

She gasped. "Finally! What happened?"

"I'm blackmailing my father."

"Oh." She was taken by surprise. "Tell me more."

"Basically he wanted to disown and disinherit me, and I threatened to call the media on him. He kind of calmed down after that, but I need a more substantial plan than just 'call the BBC'."

Understanding dawned on her face.

"I see why you talked about 'my specific skillset' the other day. Okay." she shifted on her chair. "You have to gather your information and your contacts. Do you have any straight up proof? Pictures, recordings?"

"Uh, not that I can remember. Unless one of my siblings filmed something."

"That's not ideal, but it's fine. Write a statement. Say what he told you, what day and time it was, the circumstances, and your take on it." she counted on her fingers. "Then get your contacts ready. The BBC is a good one, but probably not a business magazine, they don't care about the  _ gossip _ , they care about the  _ numbers _ ." she stated matter-of-factly.

Dig just nodded along.

"I can get you the contacts for some gossipy news sites. The Guardian, The Independent, places like that. Not going to give you the number for my contact from The Sun, because they're shit. You want reputable organizations for this one. Do you want it to go international?"

"Uh, I think it would anyway? But it can't hurt to have an American contact."

"Great, the Huffington Post it is then. They're left-wing." Arachne clarified, as if that explained  _ anything _ to him, a person who wasn't in on the information business.

She continued: "I'll send you an email with my contacts from these. Make your statement very charismatic, you know, make them see your side instead of his." she shrugged. "You're good at speaking, you can do that. Keep it in your email drafts, ready to send, and send me a copy just in case."

Arachne finished with a flourish of her hands. "There it is, my skillset." she said, simply, as if she hadn't just scrambled his brains with the knowledge he needed to ruin his father.

"Whoa. Thanks." were the only words he could say.

"You're welcome. I'm a specialist, you know." she smiled.

"You are. Damn, I didn't expect to have homework."

"If you want to do it right, you have to put in the work." she said, simply.

"I guess so." he commented, a bit dazed. "Anyway, how did  _ you _ come out?"

"You were there." Arachne shrugged. "It was during the Smiths' gala, when I kissed Yanna in the middle of the dance floor." 

"To the Cabots?" She nodded. "Wow. Did you ever come out to Myriad?"

Her expression had a tinge of sadness to it, as it did whenever she talked about her deceased guardian. Him and Gregory were her  _ real  _ fathers, not Lester Cabot.

"I think he figured it out before I did. You know, I had crushes on nearly every actress we ever saw on stage. But it was after Shallow told me about… well, you, that I actually breached the subject with him." Dig did  _ not  _ like to be reminded of the mistakes of his 16-year-old self, as evidenced by his blush. "After that I figured he already knew, so we never mentioned it again. Mr. Myriad was cool about it, of course."

Dig smiled. "That's lovely. I wish I could have known him personally, he seems to have been a great man."

"He really was." she smirked. "Are you really still embarrassed about the Shallow thing?"

Dig exhaled, exasperated. "How am I not supposed to!? He's my brother's brother-in-law! He's  _ five years _ older than me! I was underage! It was- it was a very stupid thing to do." he sighed.

His friend was laughing her ass off across the table.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

Dig had been out of the closet for a week. He felt… free. Looser. He was in such a good mood his sister wondered if he had been replaced. He didn't need to worry about his father discovering all his secrets - his relationship, his friends, his whereabouts. He  _ knew _ . His fear of being outed was null and void - and his fear of his father went away with it. He had agency over his own life, now.

So he was baking cookies with his siblings.

“It’s really easy. Hyp taught it to me a while ago. First you measure out the butter.”

Ebb poked at the stick of butter. “Ew. It’s all slimy. Are there gloves?”

The kitchen worker who was tasked with watching over them chuckled. “Third drawer to your right, Miss.”

“Thanks!” she smiled, and then put on the pair of latex gloves. Using a knife, she put a portion of the stick on the bowl sitting on top of the kitchen scale.

“About 300 grams.” Dig advised her. “See, that wasn’t so hard! Now you put it and the sugars in the mixer, I’ve measured them out already.

“Couldn’t you have measured the butter as well!?”

“Nope.” He grinned. “Then you can beat it.”

There was a twinkle in her eye as she flipped the dial on the noisy machine. She watched it work with equal parts scientific interest and childlike wonder. Fathom leaned against the counter next to him.

"So. What's next for you?"

"Hmm?"

"You're out. You have leverage on Dad. What's your next move?"

Dig sighed. "Honestly, I want to try living like this for a while. No more anxiety, no more hiding. Just living the life I should have been allowed to, I guess."

"No public statements?"

"No, not yet." he shrugged. "They can try to guess, but… I don't think I'm enough of a big deal to come out publicly. Maybe once I inherit."

"I'm surprised that's still going to happen, honestly." Fathom chuckled. "I could swear you had just placed the whole thing right into my lap."

"I could never." Dig knocked his head gently against his brother's. "I'm the better businessman, after all."

Fathom smiled. "Humble. What about her?" he gestured with his chin to their little sister.

"Do you think I'll be in charge when she picks a career?"

He nodded noncommittally.

"Well. Whatever she wants, really. If anything, she could intern for Social Media, what with her tens of thousands of followers."

They swore to each other, years ago, that they wouldn't be as annoying to Ebb about her career choice as everyone else was to them. So they speculated.

Fathom laughed. "Yeah, but I mean… do you think she'll 'follow the plan'?"

Dig sighed. "I think that's… unlikely. When has Ebb ever done what she was supposed to?"

"In that case, we're gonna have to watch out for her."

"When have we not?" he shrugged. "But yeah. I hope the fuss I made makes it so she'll have an easier time." Dig thought back to the conversation he had with their mom. He opened his mouth for a question when the mixer was turned off.

"It looks kinda like a light beige, is that it?"

Dig went over to look. He hummed in approval. 

"Yeah, look. It's all lighter and fluffy because… the beating added air bubbles to it, I think that was it." He wasn't a scientist. "Now, for the eggs."

"Ooh, it's been a while since I've broken some eggs!"

"Don't get any eggshell in it!" Fathom warned. Ebb just scoffed.

"I can crack some eggs, I'm not  _ ten _ !"

"Are you sure?" he responded, to which she just stuck out her tongue.

The eggs went in mostly unscathed, and so did the vanilla extract, the baking soda, the flour and the chocolate chip. When it was all said and done - each sibling with their own tray of cookie dough in varying shapes and sizes -, they went in the oven without much fuss.

"What should we do when they're done?" Ebb asked. "Like, how are we gonna eat them?"

Dig shrugged. "We could watch something in Fathom's room."

Fathom smirked at Ebb. "Let's watch Frozen twoooo~" he teased in a singsong voice.

She stomped her foot. "It's a  _ genuinely _ good movie!" Fathom laughed, and she settled. "But I mean… if you guys do wanna watch Frozen, that would be cool." which in Ebb language meant 'I really wanna watch it'.

"Arachne sent me a recording of the Broadway musical." Dig piped up. "She says that it's better than the movie, and this is her favorite cast."

The two younger siblings agreed, and so they watched Frozen: the Broadway Musical together, all huddled up in Fathom's bed and eating warm cookies with a bottle of soda they snuck out of the fridge.

Dig didn't expect to be barely holding himself together by curtain call. He had watched Frozen not too long ago, but something about watching it with his siblings set off  _ something _ inside of him.

The other two didn't seem to be doing so well either. A 22 year old, a 20 year old and a 15 year old, all tearing up at a musical made for little children.

"I think it's better than the movie." Ebb was the first to say something once the video ended, voice shaky. "Everyone has more depth. Or something."

"Yeah. Woof, that was something." Fathom sighed. "Do you guys wanna go on to the second one?"

"I… yeah." Ebb stopped herself before she could say anything. Dig elbowed her gently.

"We're all sniffly at a musical for kids. You can say whatever it is." he encouraged.

She took a deep breath, trying to stabilize her breathing. "I just… don't know how to say it. But…" she leaned her head on Dig's shoulder. "That was awful, what you had to do to father just to be accepted. You shouldn't have to."

Dig wrapped his arms around her in a sideways hug. "I shouldn't. It's… complicated. I hope that you can come out with less of a scene."

"Do you think I'll be able to?" she asked, sincerely.

He shrugged. "I'm the oldest one, I get to suffer the worst consequences so you guys don't."

Ebb was nestled between her brothers, and at this point they were one single mass of Iwatani. Dig remembered what he wanted to ask Fathom, and decided to go straight for the source.

"Ebb… do you remember when Mom was sober?"

She sniffled. "Yeah. Not specific situations, but I remember how she used to be."

"Do you remember dad?" Fathom asked.

She shook her head. "No. I have more childhood memories of you guys than them."

He bristled. "That's so not ideal."

"Yeah. I wonder what happened for them to change." Dig mused out loud.

"...do you guys not remember?" she muttered quietly.

"What?"

"It was… well. It wasn't you, Dig, but it kinda was. I guess you don't remember because it was happening  _ to _ you. You had just come back from camp, I think… I think it was the year with Ren. You came back just in time for your birthday."

Dig remembered that birthday. 14. How could he ever forget? Right at the end of a summer so  _ important _ to him.

"Dad made a huge deal out of how you were becoming a man. And how… how you couldn't do kid stuff anymore. And then he started making you follow all these rules. And you got sadder.”

"That's when Mom started drinking.” Fathom remembered suddenly.

“She said big things would happen when I became a lady, too. I was  _ six _ , I didn't want that. And then it was Fathom's turn, and the same thing happened.” he nodded. “Father was less strict on you, but… that was when everything changed. I didn’t understand then, I was too little. But… then I grew up."

"Oh." was the only response Dig could muster. Of course he couldn't remember when the rules and the discipline started. He must've intentionally forgotten. Or his father made it feel like they were  _ always _ the case.

"Damn." was Fathom's answer. "That… that tracks. The lineup, right? 'The heir, the spare, and the bargaining chip'. What a load of garbage."

"I'm not a fucking casino coin." Ebb stated. "I'm a  _ person _ . And Dig shouldn't have to become an example. Damn it." she wiped a stray tear from her face.

Fathom leaned against her. "Our job is to protect you. You don't deserve to go through the shit we did. They didn't even have the decency to tell you  _ why _ ."

"It's so unfair. Why does this have to happen to us?"

"At least we have each other." Dig stated. "We made it this far, right? Let's… let's end this together. This kind of parenting ends with us."

Ebb sniffled. "As far as I'm concerned, you two are the only family I've ever had."

They were all snuggled together, faces damp, holding onto each other like lifelines. You couldn't tell these were the same siblings wrestling over pillows and blankets two hours ago.

_ True love can thaw a frozen heart _ . They could restart this cold, dead family legacy. Three innocents, scarred from battles they never should've had anything with. Battles that ended with their sacrifices.

━━━ ✦❘༻ 岩谷 ༺❘✦ ━━━

**Author's Note:**

> if you tell anyone this features a bootleg you're a class traitor and you won't survive the revolution /j


End file.
